[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 8 (Monday, February 25, 2002)]
[Pages 245-246]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

February 16, 2002

    Good morning. Today I'm flying west across the Pacific to visit 
Japan, South Korea, and China. The people of Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing 
touched all our hearts in the days after September 11, with moving 
displays of sympathy and support in the wake of the terrorist attacks. 
Today, all three nations are supporting our fight against terrorism.
    I look forward to discussing our progress in ridding the world of 
this great threat to civilization, and we'll discuss our work to build a 
better world beyond terror, a world of greater opportunity and more open 
trade, stronger security and more individual freedom.
    I will speak to the Japanese Parliament and thank Japan for five 
decades of friendship. Our great alliance has helped make possible the 
remarkable economic success of the Pacific region, which creates so much 
opportunity and so many jobs for Americans.
    Today, Japan is in the midst of economic uncertainty and transition. 
But I have great confidence in Japan's future and in the unlimited 
potential of its people. And I'm confident that Japan will make the bold 
reforms needed to restore growth and opportunity, which will benefit the 
people of both our nations.
    I will visit South Korea and travel to the Demilitarized Zone, one 
of the most dangerous places on Earth, where barbed wire marks a line 
dividing freedom and oppression. I will visit with American service men 
and women who defend this frontier and provide stability on the Korean 
Peninsula.
    The people of South Korea have built a vibrant democracy and Asia's 
third largest economy. The people of the South are now reaching out to 
the North in a spirit of friendship and reconciliation. I support these 
efforts. Yet I will remind the world that America will not allow North 
Korea and other dangerous regimes to threaten freedom with weapons of 
mass destruction.
    In China, I look forward to seeing again firsthand the remarkable 
changes that are taking place as China opens to the world. America 
welcomes China's recent entry into the World Trade Organization, which 
will encourage American trade with China and encourage economic freedom 
and the rule of law in China itself.
    I look forward to talking to the Chinese about their commitment to 
open up their markets to U.S. agricultural products. I'm also looking 
forward to meeting with Chinese students, because it gives me an 
opportunity to talk about the America I know, an America with strong 
values of family, community, faith, and freedom. And I will express my 
hopes that as China moves forward, it too will embrace the universal 
demands of human dignity, freedom of conscience and religion, and the 
rights and value of every life.
    The flight across the northern Pacific is a long one. But in our 
spirit of friendship and cooperation, the nations of the northern 
Pacific are drawing ever closer. All around this great ocean we see good 
friends, Canada and Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, the Philippines 
and Taiwan. And they will find in America a nation that is determined 
and patient and committed to the great cause of building a world that is 
more peaceful, more secure, and more prosperous.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 11:42 a.m. on February 15 in the 
Cabinet Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February 
16. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on February 15 but was embargoed for release until the 
broadcast. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of this address.

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